RAILWAY ROUTES IN ALASKA; MESSAGES OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TRANSMITTING REPORT OF ALASKA RAILWAY COMMISSION; 62ND CONGRESS, 3RD SESSION, 1912-1913; HOUSE DOCUMENTS, VOLUMES 118 AND 119

[Washington: Government Printing Office, 1912 & 1913]., 1912 & 1913. First edition. First edition. 8vo. House Documents 1346, 62nd Congress, 3rd Session, Two volumes. Cloth, titles in black on the spine, 172 pp., (Volume I) and Volume II is maps. Volume I contains eight maps, all of which are present. Volume II contains sixteen maps and three profiles of Alaska showing the location of railroad route maps and individual routes to be undertaken. President Taft appointed a commission "to conduct an examination into the transportation question in the Territory of Alaska; to examine railroad routes from the seaboard to the coal fields and to the interior and navigable waterways; to secure surveys and other information with respect to railroads, including cost of construction and operation; to obtain information in respect to the coal fields and their proximity to railroad routes; and to make report of the facts to Congress on or before the first day of December, nineteen hundred and twelve, or as soon thereafter as may be practicable, together with their conclusions and recommendations in respect to the best and most available routes for railroads in Alaska which will develop the country and the resources thereof for the use of the people of the United States." Chosen to accomplish this task were Major Jay J. Morrow, Corps of Engineers, as Chairman, Alfred H. Brooks, geologist, Leonard M. Cox, Civil Engineer, and Colin M. Ingersoll, consulting railroad engineer. An ex-library set with small and neat number at head of spine, evidence of card removal from front pastedown sheet of each volume, title sheet missing from Volume I and Volume II is moderately soiled, else a very good, tight, internally clean set. This set is unusual as all maps are present and in near fine to fine condition.